Interfax (www.interfax.com) announced on November 29 that the English version of Google's news service has been inaccessible in China for more than a week. Zhang Junwei, a Google Media official stationed in Beijing, acknowledged that the company's English News channel was inaccessible when contacted by Interfax, but could not provide further comment. The Google English News channel, which monitors more than 4500 online news outlets, has become a popular resource for Chinese netizens searching for information from around the world.
The paid search company Mamma.com Inc. (www.mamma.com) and Copernic Technologies Inc. (www.copernic.com), one of the first players in the Desktop Search field, announced on November 29 that Mamma has signed a letter of intent where they will acquire all of the shares of Copernic Technologies for a combination of cash and shares of Mamma.com Inc. The closing of the acquisition will be effected by the parties pursuant to a definitive purchase agreement, when and if negotiated and entered into by Mamma.com and Copernic.
GoFish, started by the founder of the now-defunct Musiclocker service, announced on November 29 the launch of its new search engine www.gofish.com aimed at helping music lovers find tunes across a growing number of online music stores. GoFish allows people to simultaneously search for songs from Napster, Buy.com, iTunes and a host of other online music merchants. The site also looks for audiobooks, video, ring tones and games. GoFish founder Michael Downing said that it's a way to create the logical link between search and the fast-growing world of legally downloadable digital media.
EcommerceTimes.com (www.ecommercetimes.com) announced on November 26 that the search engine giant Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) is setting out to shake up the holiday shopping season with the world's largest interactive snow globe smack dab in the middle of New York City’s Times Square. The Yahoo Snow Globe is 16 feet in diameter and uses a machine to circulate potato starch in lieu of actual snow. Inside the snow globe shoppers will find a "Comparison Shopping Santa" and some Yahoo elves to help them navigate the portal on custom-designed, state-of-the-art Wi-Fi Internet kiosks for instant online shopping gratification. If that's not enough, Yahoo is offering free digital photos with none other than Santa Clause himself.
The search engine giant Google Inc. (www.google.com) announced on November 26 that Nikesh Arora is its new Vice President of European Operations. Arora brings 16 years of diverse management experience to Google's expanding European operations and his appointment represents Google's continued commitment to growth in Europe. Arora will join Google in London in December. Arora will manage and develop Google's operations in the European market and will also be responsible for the creation and expansion of strategic partnerships in Europe for the benefit of Google's growing number of users and advertisers.
Ask Jeeves (www.ask.com) announced on November 25 that for the fifth year its trademark Internet butler will be featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 25. The company, which owns the search engines Ask.com and Excite.com, wouldn't say how much the exposure cost. Ask Jeeves is the only Internet company present in this year's parade.
Elixir Systems (www.elixirsystems.com), a Scottsdale, Arizona-based leading provider of search engine placement services that specializes in helping companies of all sizes to get their web sites highly ranked in the search engines, announced on November 25 an agreement with GarrettCom, Inc. (www.GarrettCom.com), an industry leader in providing cost-effective Ethernet products for specialty and stressed applications, to provide search engine optimization to increase their presence within search engines.
FindaSeminar.com (www.findaseminar.com), the leading training and seminar search engine, announced on November 23 that it has added thousands of 2005 training classes and seminars to its website. Training seekers can now shop, compare and register for over 90 000 training classes and seminars in one convenient location.
Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org) unveiled on November 22 an updated beta version of its search engine (http://search.creativecommons.org/index.jsp), which crawls the web for text, images, audio and video free to re-use on certain terms a search refinement offered by no other company or organization today. Creative Commons’ announcement coincides with the Mozilla Foundation’s release of its industry-leading browser, Firefox 1.0 (www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/), which now features the Creative Commons search technology in its toolbar alongside such leading search services as Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay and Dictionary.com.
Jupitermedia Corporation (www.jupitermedia.com), a leading global provider of original information, images, research and events for information technology, announced on November 23 that its Search Engine Strategies Fall Conference & Expo 2004 (www.jupiterevents.com/sew/fall04/), the premier event for search engine marketing and optimization, will be held December 13-16 at McCormick Place-Lakeside Center in Chicago.
